The Road Ends at Glendinning

Glendinning: The Place


visitors since September 20 1998

Contents
Published Sources (Map and Gazetteer References) | Comments | The Road Ends at Glendinning (Photographs) | Links | Updates to this page will appear at New at Ancestry Sites

Published Sources

Gazetteer References

Glendinning, estate with the remains of castle, N.E. Dumfriesshire, on Megget Water, 4.5 miles S.W. of Wisp Hill. From Gazetteer of the British Isles - 9th Edition, 1943. Reprinted, 1966 with Summary of the 1961 Census and Supplement of additional names and ammendments. Copyright 1966 John Bartholomew & Sons Ltd, Edinburgh.

Glendinning: place 3 miles west of Eskdalemuir church, site of castle and of 18th century antimoney mine. Birthplace of the engineer Thomas Telford (1757-1834)." From Gazeteer of Scotland - R.W. Munro, Johnston and Bacon 1973. Telford was the founder of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1818.

Glendinning (Westerkirk). 1384 Glendonwyne, 1471 Glendinwyne. glyn din gwyn 'glen of the fair hill'. From Place Names of Scotland - James B. Johnston, SR Publishers 1934.

Glendinning Scots: habitation name from a place in the parish of Westerkirk, Dumfires, recorded in 1384 as Glendonwyne. It is apparently so called from British ancestors of the words glyn valley, din fort and gwyn fair, white. Variants: Glenden(n)ing, Clendenning, Clendennen, Clindening. From Dictionary of Surnames - P. Hanks and F. Hodges OUP 1988.

Left: Portion of OS Map

Follow the B709 north-north-west from Langholm to Bentpath, turn right through the village and then left at Westerkirk Church and head north along the Meggat Water. The old graveyard is also worth a visit on your return journey. It can be found around the corner from the Church, just before you turn back into Bentpath. In front of the Church (which is now closed) is a War Memorial, which bears the name of one Glendinning lost in WWI.

Comments

Contributions from Harry Webb a Scots' Gaelic translator from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and David Wright from The Isle of Skye, Scotland dated December 21 1996.

There are problems straight away - there is no w or y in Gaelic! This is an absolute, off the top of my head guess, but how about "Gleann de'n Fhionn", which would be something like "Glen of the Fair" and might sound about right when corrupted to English. The "hill" bit could feasibly just be implicit in the name.

A contribution from Peter Glendinning dated February 8 1998. Well, I asked the help of some linguists on the net to confirm that the surname, or at least the location name, Glendinning is of the old Britonic language of Strathclyde; that language being the modern Welsh. glyn din gwyn 'glen of the fair hill' - Glendonwyne. It is apparently so called from British ancestors of the words glyn valley, din fort and gwyn fair, white. Their response: Makes perfect sense to me... seems like the translation is spot on (we might find a few variables for din), but other than that it makes sense. Lots of Brythonic names in Southern Scotland: Glasgow (glas + caeau) = blue fields, Strathclyde (Ystrad Clud) = Vale of Claudius, and let's not forget all the Abers in Scotland.

A contribution from Bruce McCartney dated September 21 1998. As I live in Langholm, I was really interested in your page. If you want to see a bit more about the town, go to: http://homepages.enterprise.net/iainlogan/index.html. I recently retired from teaching Science in Langholm: one of the things that we did in second year was to give out an article cobbled from the "Scots Magazine" and the "Scotsman" about Jamestown and the antimony mine.

One of the tales about the word "antimony" is that a brother in a monastery made up an exilir of life containing antimony and gave it to the other monks, who promptly curled up their toes. Hence anti-monk, or antimony. Unfortunately, the word antimony comes from a different source altogether! It's reckoned that the ancient Britons who rubbed a red dye on their faces to make them look fierce brought about their own early death.

I visited the mine in the early 60's: my mate at school (Hawick High) was going on to study Geology, we were able to get inside and maybe about ten yards down a passage. It would be about seven years ago that the entrance was bulldozed.

In spite of being a Teri born, my roots in Langholm go back to 1651! Should you ever come across the surnames Wolves or Blackmere please let me know! They both were ancestors of mine around 1820 in Langholm, but where they came from, I don't know. The Hounam tree to 1651 was easy to trace.

THE ROAD ENDS AT GLENDINNING

Following a visit to Glendinning early in September 1998, I can now add some photographs, a map and further background information.
The Road to Glendinning
The names of the settlements along the Meggat Water survive today in the names of houses and farms only. The villages were little more than a collection of mud huts with sod roofs and have long been reclaimed by the land. You are looking north, on the left the small cluster of buildings are all that remains of Glendinning. They consist of a 1950s bungalow, a one storey stone building, once the main house but now a barn, and a storage shed. The hill is called Glendinning Heights and Glendinning Burn runs behind it. In the forefront, the white house is Jamestown and to the right stand three barns, one of which has blocked up windows that indicate it was once a dwelling place. There is no longer any sign of the Castle ruins, which still existed in the 19th Century.

Jamestown was named for Sir James Johnstone who owned the estate in 1788 and opened an antimoney mine at Glendinning, building a settlement for his miners. The road curves with the Meggat Water and ends by the first trees, running over a small bridge and becoming a rutted track, which winds on further up the Burn.
The Meggat Water
Closer, the stream runs past Glendinning, which is surrounded by dry stone walls. Sheep roam the hillsides and stray across the road. The tenant (a member of the Douglas family) is a shephard and tells me that about six or seven people named Glendinning (and variants) visit each year.

He has no objection to visitors roaming the hillsides so long as they keep to the paths and close the gates behind them. A word of warning, take wellington boots, the going is very muddy, especially around the gates where sheep have collected and milled around, churning up the ground. However, the farm has just been sold and it is not yet known how the new owners will react to a concentrated pilgrimage!

The anti-money mine is little more than a couple of holes in the ground , a few traces of foundations and a small collection of rusting machinery. It can be found about a mile to the east, in Glenshanna Burn. The walk is worth it for the view back down to the valley floor (see below).

Links

The Glendinning Mailing List: send "subscribe" to: GLENDINNING-L-request@rootsweb.com

Glendinning and Douglas Pages: Sharon Clarke's Glendinning and Clarke Families | The Clendinen Research Page courtesy of Sharon Bryant | Peter Glendinning's Home Page | The House of Douglas Home Page | The Glendinning Sept | Clan Douglas Society of North America | Clan Douglas (Nova Scotia) Home Page | W. Glendinning and Son Kilt Hire and Sales.

More Links at The Origins of the Glendinnings | Go back to Alex Glendinning's Home Page | e-mail glen@itl.net

Alex Glendinning. September 20 1998